Charities, ATO resist push to scrap not-for-profit regulator

Updated
March 19, 2014 08:56:00

The Coalition wants to scrap the new national regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, and return some of its functions to the Australian Taxation Office. But major not-for-profit groups, including the RSPCA, Lifeline and World Vision, are resisting the move and a Labor MP says the ATO doesn't want to resume regulating charities.

CHRIS UHLMANN: A coalition of charities is fighting a Federal Government decision to abolish a charities regulator set up by the Gillard government.

Fifty-three organisations including the RSPCA, Lifeline and World Vision have written to the Prime Minister Tony Abbott urging him to reconsider. And a senior Federal Labor MP says the tax office is also resisting the push for it to resume regulating charities.

But the Abbott Government is determined to press on, saying it's part of the drive to reduce red tape.

Lexi Metherell reports.

LEXI METHERELL: The former Labor government established the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission just over a year ago. The Coalition wants to scrap it.

The Minister for Social Services is Kevin Andrews.

KEVIN ANDREWS: We have an election commitment to abolish the ACNC. I spent many months consulting with many individuals and organisations in the sector and we can't see what good there is from the ACNC.

LEXI METHERELL: Before the ACNC charities had been regulated depending on their legal status and the state they operated in. The ACNC has sought to streamline that.

Kevin Andrews:

KEVIN ANDREWS: Well the ACNC doesn't reduce red tape. There are still requirements to report to various state organisations and bodies, and it really hasn't done anything by way of really reducing the red tape.

LEXI METHERELL: Fifty-three not-for-profit groups have written a letter to the Prime Minister urging him not to abolish the regulator. Among them is World Vision. Its chief executive Tim Costello says scrapping the ACNC will actually increase red tape.

TIM COSTELLO: We are going to have higher costs. We are going to have less transparency. This has been a real advance for the charity sector. To go back, backwards, is really going to make life much more difficult for us.

LEXI METHERELL: Groups as diverse as the Hillsong Church and the Australian Conservation Foundation have signed the letter, but Catholic organisations are noticeably absent. Sections of the Catholic Church have resisted the ACNC and have successfully fought for parishes to be exempt from the new requirement that unincorporated not-for-profits declare financial details.

Tim Costello:

TIM COSTELLO: Look I am told - because I am not privy to lobbying - that the Sydney Archdiocese weren't terribly happy about the ACNC. Some wealthy individuals weren't happy about it either. But I can say that 80 per cent of all charities in this nation actually support this.

LEXI METHERELL: The Social Services Minister, Kevin Andrews:

KEVIN ANDREWS: I've had representations from probably every religious body in Australia. I've had representations from many non-religious bodies as well. This is not something that relates to any one particular religious group; it's something which goes across the board.

LEXI METHERELL: Become some senior members of the charity sector are saying privately that they think this might be about the Catholic Church trying to evade scrutiny and that they have pressured the Government to make this move. What do you say to that?

KEVIN ANDREWS: That's just simply nonsense.

LEXI METHERELL: The Government plans to return some of the ACNC's powers to the Taxation Office, but Labor's assistant treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh says it doesn't want them back.

ANDREW LEIGH: From the informal conversations that I've had that's certainly my understanding.

LEXI METHERELL: On what basis is that?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, the conversations that I've had from people working in the tax office. Obviously, you know, people aren't going to speak on the record but they don't feel that their agency is the best to regulate charities.